Most top executives spend a lot of time talking about the importance of their people to long-term success, but few know what they need to do to make talent an asset that allows them to outdistance competitors. This knowing-doing gap is especially critical today, when changes in demographics, the rise of a global knowledge economy, and the nature of work itself have transformed talent into an organisation's most important competitive asset.
Talent as a strategic issue
The idea of talent as the force that powers companies is taking centre stage. An organisation's people are the prime source of value, sustainability and in most companies, cost. The shift in many of the world's developed economies to more services and knowledge-based work has altered the way in which value is created and measured. Yet a deeper understanding of how people add value, how to invest in their development for best effect, and even how they work and what motivates them remains surprisingly elusive to many organisations.
The importance of learning and skills development
Although recruiting new talent is critical, building skills in the existing workforce is equally essential. In many parts of the world, talent shortages caused by changing demographics and outdated public education programs are failing to deliver young people to the workforce with the appropriate skills that they need to be prepared for the workforce. Addressing these challenges requires the talent-powered organisation to take several actions along parallel tracks:
- Re-skilling workforces. Although there are certainly some wider issues in education, the reality is that around 70% of the workforce that will be available in 2020 has already completed their education. Businesses and governments must therefore develop adult learning and development programs to properly skill these workers.
- Transforming learning design and delivery. In too many organisations, learning and development investments are not well focused, measured or leveraged effectively through blended learning approaches. Unfortunately, investments in human capital are managed as operational expenses, and therefore, often at the mercy of cost cutting and other short-term measures. Every organisation needs to approach learning and skills development as a critical capability. Investing in people has been shown to be critical to talent attraction and retention, but it is equally critical to maintaining the knowledge capital of the business and efficiently and effectively growing new skills.
Improving performance and retention with higher levels of engagement
Aligning and engaging employees to maximise their contribution has never been more important, or arguably more challenging. The expectations of the new generation of workers, issues of work-life balance, greater levels of job mobility and changing patterns of work, have all put increased pressure on keeping employees motivated and aligned to the objectives of the organisation.
Talent-powered organisations are utilising more innovative approaches. More flexibility in employee value propositions, compensation programs, and career options and direction are becoming important levers in managing more diverse workforces. Talent-powered organisations are learning to better identify individual needs and priorities, and tailoring their work experience accordingly.
Making talent management everyone's job
Given the strategic importance of talent and the ability to create and develop it, talent management must become everyone's responsibility. In talent-powered organisations, organisational capabilities in discovering, developing, and deploying talent must empower and charge everyone in the organisation with identifying and nurturing talent in ways that drive high performance. This has to begin with top leadership being closely engaged themselves, which helps to create a talent mindset and culture in the organisation. Indeed, according to the most recent Accenture High-Performance Workforce Study, those organisations identified as "human performance leaders" are much more likely to have the heads of their top workforces highly involved in human capital management initiatives - sometimes by as much as a five-to-one margin.
Marshalling the resources and best thinking of an organisation
Very few organisations currently have the right resources in place to meet the new talent challenge. Their methods and basic approaches to talent issues, supporting infrastructure and management focus are too often inadequate for the task in the rapidly changing talent environment. Both internal and external metrics often fail to recognise talent as the new manifestation of value in the business, let alone provide guidance to good investments to increase it. The specialist department usually assigned to talent issues, HR, must be equipped with the skills, capabilities, confidence and credibility to support the full spectrum of talent management issues and treat them strategically.
Now, as top executives become more and more aware of the strategic nature of talent management, they must refocus their leadership teams and marshal dedicated resources to talent management practices, capabilities and measurement.
Five talent imperatives
To truly compete on talent, companies must be prepared to do more than just invest when the economy is strong and then cut budgets during recession. They have to be able to multiply their talent to generate superior levels of effort, imagination and creativity. And they need to do that by concentrating on five talent imperatives:
1. Develop a mindset from the top of the organisation that approaches talent as a strategic issue, and includes a human capital strategy as intrinsic to the business strategy.
2. Recognise and nurture diversity as the organisation's greatest asset, and the ability to attract and work with diverse talent as a critical competitive advantage.
3. Build workforce learning and skills development as a critical organisational capability.
4. Increase the alignment and engagement of people in their organisation and its mission.
5. Make sure that all people in the organisation, especially those at senior levels, see talent management as part of their job and responsibility. This responsibility is not limited to HR.
Case in point: HP's talent management process
Hewlett-Packard (HP) looks at talent management as a mindset that guides the way it identifies, manages and develops human capital. Most importantly, it is about ensuring that the company has a 'strong bench' for the future. "Talent management helps focus on critical talent gaps based on the long-term business strategy. The process also ensures that all critical roles have a strong pipeline of successors with a dual focus on building leadership capabilities across our businesses," remarks Mayur Bharath, People Development, director, APJ. With a talent management mindset, he feels HP will always be ready with strong players; players who have the knowledge, skills and experience to step up when needed, without disrupting the achievement of business strategies.
The process:
Planning the talent review and pre-work
The HR manager, talent manager and business leader meet to align on the strategic outcome and discussion on talent management. The entire talent management discussion is closely tied to the business strategy, both from a short-term and long-term perspective.
Launch pre-work
Each participating leader completes an assessment of their direct reports on HP's Talent Management system. As part of the pre-work, with the help of the system, a manager is able to identify critical roles, succession gaps and create succession slates from across the organisation.
Preparation for meeting
The Talent manager and HR manager pull together completed information from the system and consolidate all information in advance for the meeting.
Talent review session
During the talent review session, succession plans and the talent pool will be identified. Development actions and strategies for succession gaps will also be discussed. These actions will lead to a better understanding of current performance and future potential of individuals.
Debrief and action planning
Managers will have to complete any further development planning and complete changes as per the meeting. Managers own all action items related to the development of employees coming out of the meeting. The HR manager and business leader are responsible for calling the next review as per frequency decided.
Under the spot light
Talent development initiatives at Singapore Police Force (SPF)
There are about 600 officers currently on various talent management programs in the SPF. This pool of officers comprise its scholars (overseas and local), senior, police (junior) and civilian officers assessed to have high potential (determined by their 'currently estimated potential' meeting a certain grade/rank). This pool is constantly reviewed and maintained through the various programs that SPF has put in place for the development of its identified talents. SPF's HR spearheaded several programs and initiatives in 2007.
- Leadership Mentoring Program (LMP) II. This consists of a workshop for mentors to be coaches, and mentees to be effective recipients of coaching. It includes a Discovery Lab for mentees to learn about themselves - their reflection and response styles; as well as models to enhance mentors' roles as leaders and explore and experience new leadership behaviours; and a 'Leaders as Coach Inventory' survey.
- Collective Leadership Coaching Workshops for officers in leadership positions in divisions. This has been integrated as part of SPF LG's and high-potential officers' development. For its LG members who are holding the post of a Land Division Commander and Commanding Officer (CO) of a Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC), an experienced retired police officer is engaged as a coach in the area of police leadership and operations. The coach develops a personalised coaching program for each commander through monthly individual face-to-face sessions, unlimited coaching through e-mail, fax and telephone, and a team coaching session each quarter.
- Formation of SWAT Teams. Small teams of high potential officers from diverse backgrounds apply a multi-disciplinary approach to address complex issues which are often difficult to analyse. Teams are appointed on a part-time basis for a period of around two months to frame the issue and rapidly design pilot trials for testing. Solutions are then improved in an iterative process.
- Unit-Leadership Development Programs. About 400 officers were involved in this program at their respective unit-level in 2007. These officers who were put through the program were sent for teambuilding and leadership camps and various developmental courses, such as to effective communication, presentation skills, conceptualisation and writing skills. They were also given greater exposure to management skills by being responsible for facilitating meetings and discussions and also leading in committees, eg, sports and welfare committees.
- Leadership and Command Development Centre (LCDC). This is the second year in which SPF conducted its own in-house LCDC, designed and administered by police psychologists. The LCDC adopts the Assessment Centre Methodology, which uses simulation exercises designed to assess job-relevant behaviours from participants. The Development Centre is positioned as a development tool in that the inputs gained on officers who are put through the exercises are provided to the supervisors and officers so that they may gain insights into their strengths and weaknesses, and work towards building up the desired competencies. A total of 44 officers were put through the LCDC in 2007.
- Foundation Course for Management Associates. This is the first milestone training program for newly-appointed Management Associates (MAs) from amongst its scholars. (MAs are young officers with high potential who may be eventually considered for appointment into the Administration Service.) It provides new MAs with the knowledge and skills necessary for their work and to build esprit de corps among the officers. The course also introduces participants to the different areas of public governance and allows them to gain a deeper understanding of Singapore and ASEAN. All MAs appointed are required to attend the FC and pass the Law Part III Examinations. SPF sent 3 officers for this program this year.
- Executive Development Course (EDC). The course entails a two-week program specially designed for young non-Admin Officers/MA scholars and high-potential civilian officers with one to four years' experience. The learning architecture for EDC comprises lectures, workshops, facilitated class discussions, dialogues and learning journeys. The EDC aims to broaden the perspectives of officers on challenges in policy-making and to enable officers to have a networked government perspective.
- Governance and Leadership Program (GLP). It aims to equip director-level officers, who are holding strategic portfolios in the public sector, with a holistic perspective of public sector governance. Three officers were sent for the course this year.
- Executive Development Program (EDP). This is specifically for very high potential officers who are assessed to be able to assume very senior ranks in the organisation.
- Home Team Senior Command and Staff Course. The course was aimed at equipping the selected officers with the knowledge, values and attitudes to function as heads of staff departments, developing them with in-depth appreciation and understanding of concepts and policies underlying good governance of public organisations, regional and international socio-political issues and to learn about leadership and management concepts and practices in a dynamic environment.